5 stayed at warming center in Albion last night

Site has seen increase so far this winter

Photo by Tom Rivers: Julie Carasone, warming center coordinator for Oak Orchard Health, is shown this morning inside Christ Episcopal Church in Albion, where five people stayed last night.  Three were people without a place to stay and two others didn’t have electricity.

ALBION – The warming center at Christ Episcopal Church welcomed five people last night, another bitter cold day.

Three of those people are unhoused without a place to stay and two others lost their electricity from the powerful winds yesterday and wanted a warm place for the night.

The Clarendon fire station also opened as a warming center, but no one chose to stay there overnight, said Justin Niederhofer, the county’s emergency management director.

Oak Orchard Health is now in its third season of running the warming center at Christ Church, 26 S. Main St., Albion.

The site has 12 cots, coffee, tea, soup and hygiene kits when the temperature drops below 32 degrees at night. Oak Orchard also has the ability through the Emergency Management Office to have up to 90 cots set up.

Oak Orchard was ready with additional supplies and cots if needed last night, said Julie Carasone, warming center coordinator for Oak Orchard Health.

The site typically had 1 or 2 people each night the first winter it opened in 2023-’24, and then 2 or 3 on most days last winter.

This year there are more people, usually 3 to 8 each night, Carasone said.

“This year we have a significant increase in the number of people who are un-homed or unhoused,” she said. “We’ve been very busy this season.”

The warming center is activated on “Cold Blue” nights when the temperature falls to 32 degrees or below. That started early this year – on Nov. 3, Carasone said.

She said some of the people who stay at the warming center are only there for a couple weeks and they are able to get housing and a job. Others struggle to come up with the money for a security deposit and down payment and are there more long-term.

“In Orleans County there is a limited housing supply,” Carasone said. “And rent has become expensive.”

She praised the collaboration among Oak Orchard Health, the Orleans County DSS, Genesee Orleans Ministry of Concern and Community Action in trying to keep people safe from the cold and headed towards more secure housing.

The warming center is paid for through a state grant to operate the “Code Blue” centers. Oak Orchard Health has two staff that work at the site, one in a six-hour shift from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., and then another coming in from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m.

When the temperature is above 32 degrees, the warming center is not available. Carasone said she hears from the people that they will stay in tents, or by the canal park in Albion, or with family and friends.

They often stay in public libraries, fast food restaurants, laundromats and other businesses during the day, Carasone said.

She also thanked other agencies and the community for helping keep the warming center stocked with supplies for the people staying overnight. The Medina Area Association of Churches, Hands 4 Hope, Community Action and Zonta Club all have helped with materials at the site.

The warming center will likely be available into April when the temperature usually gets over 32 degrees at night.